Passengers’ horror as pet snake slithers through US flight before being found ‘sleeping’ by a little boy
According to reports owner had gotten off the plane but the reptile had not
PASSENGERS on board a flight in America were left horrified when a live snake was found on board by a young boy.
According to reports, the owner had gotten off the plane but the reptile had not.
Anna McConnaughy was on board the plane which was bound for Anchorage, Alaska's largest city.
She told the Associated Press today: "The pilot came on and said 'Guys, we have some loose on the plane, but we don't know where it is'."
A little boy, one of seven passengers on the Ravn Alaska commuter flight on Sunday from the village of Aniak was climbing on his seat when he spotted the slumbering snake.
It was lying partially covered by a duffel bag near the back of the plane.
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McConnaughy said: "He [the boy] said, 'Oh, Mum, look at this. What's that?'
"That's how we figured out there was a snake sleeping in the corner."
Despite the discovery, there was no panic with people mainly wanting to catch a glimpse of the snake.
A pilot came back to help, she said, leading to a short discussion with a flight attendant on how best to capture it.
McConnaughy said the pilot was "quite a gentleman".
The flight attendant grabbed the snake by the belly and dropped it into a plastic trash bag.
It spent the rest of the flight in an overhead storage bin, and the plane reached Anchorage on schedule.
Television station KTVA first reported the incident.
McConnaughy's photos show a pale snake about 4 to 5 feet long.
She said it appeared to want only to go back to sleep.
A spokesman for the airline, William Walsh, said in a statement that the snake owner had not registered the pet for travel in the cabin of the Ravn Alaska flight.
After arriving in Aniak, he reported that his snake was missing and likely on the return trip to Anchorage.
Ravn Alaska does not allow any large animal that's not a dog to be used as a service animal.
A toddler has recently been filmed catching his first snake at just two years old.
Jensen Harrison appears to be keen to follow in his snake catching dad’s footsteps.
Proud dad Tony Harrison was on standby by as he watched his toddler grab the small keelback – a non-venomous snake that lives in the family’s home state of Queensland, Australia.
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